OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES

No purchase or payment necessary to enter or win.

Photo Eligibility

To enter, you must be at least 18 years of age. Lanier50, Marina Operators of Lake Lanier and Lanier Publishing, Inc. employees, sponsors and their immediate family members are not eligible.

Photo Formats

Entries may be color prints or digital images. Black and white images are not eligible. Please read below the specific guidelines for submitting prints and digital images.

Photographer/Copyright

Entries must be submitted by the original photographer, with one exception: parents submitting for their child. Do not submit a photo taken by someone other than yourself (except as previously mentioned). You must be the sole owner of the copyright of any image submitted.

Number of Entries

An individual may submit only one photo per category; various (or all) categories may be entered by individual.

Return of Photos

Photos, regardless of the medium, will not be returned.

Ownership/Use Rights

Photographers retain the copyright to their photographs. However, by entering the contest, photographers agree to have their photographs displayed as deemed appropriate by Lanier50 organizers and Lanier Publishing Inc without any fee or other form of compensation other than what is listed as contest prizes. Photos will be credited to the photographer. Entries (including non-winning entries) may be selected for display or use by organizers. In the event that ownership of any submitted photograph is contested in any manner, organizers retain the discretion to disqualify that photograph and discontinue use of the photograph.

How to Enter

Digital photos may be submitted using the printed or online entry form. Send photos via email to photocontest@lakesidenews.com. Printed forms are available in this advertisement or at www.LakeLanier50.com or www.lakesidenews.com.

Prints may be mailed along with completed entry forms to: Photo Contest, 130-C John Morrow Pkwy 200, Gainesville, GA 30501. If you are submitting multiple entries, be sure to indicate clearly which form belongs with each photo. Entries must be received by August 17, 2007.

Judging

Entries will be judged on the basis of creativity, photographic quality, and effectiveness. A panel will judge entries and all contest decisions are final. Entries that fail to comply with the Official Contest Rules will be disqualified.

Winners

Judges will select a minimum of first, second and third place winners for each of the contest categories. If fewer than 10 eligible photographs are entered in a category, organizers may choose to name only a first place winner, or may cancel that category. In addition, one or more honorable mention winners may be selected in categories with especially large numbers of entries, at the discretion of the judging panel. Winners will be notified by phone and email using the information on the entry form.

Winning photographs, along with the photographer’s name, and information about the photo, will be displayed on the www.LakeLanier50.com and www.Lakesidenews.com websites. A selection of photographs will be printed in Lakeside on Lanier newspaper.

Submitting Digital Images

Digital images should be submitted using the online entry form. Images should be formatted to be between 500k and 700k, JPG (at high quality) or TIFF. Images must be in natural color.

Size Matters - Click here for info

Image Modifications:

Minor digital enhancement is permitted, but images that have been significantly modified or appear unnatural will be disqualified.

Not Permitted:

• No borders or frames.

• Adding or replacing elements in an image is not permitted.

• Artistic filters are not permitted.

Permitted Modifications:

• Images may be cropped and rotated as necessary as long as the rectangular format is maintained and the size is within the specifications above.

• Images may be resized as long as the aspect ratio is maintained

• Red-eye removal and spot editing

• One-step enhancement (such as "AutoFix", "QuickFix", "Auto Levels", etc.)

• Use of filters to sharpen, soften, blur, despeckle, or remove noise.

• Use of corrective functions to improve the natural appearance of the image, such as levels, contrast, brightness, curves, intensity, tone, hue, saturation, lightness, value, color balance, and tint.

Submitting Prints

Prints must be 4 x 6 inches or 5 x 7 inches and must be in color. Do not send negatives. Attach a label to the back of each print with your name and address. Do not write on the photo itself. If submitting multiple entries, number each print to match a corresponding entry form. Prints will not be returned.

Mail print along with entry form to:

Photo Contest
130-C John Morrow Pkwy 200
Gainesville, GA 30501

Additional Terms and Conditions

Organizers are not responsible for computer system, hardware, software, or program malfunctions or other errors, failures, or delayed computer transactions or network connections that are human or technical in nature. Furthermore, organizers are not responsible for: (i) lost, misdirected, misplaced, illegible, unintelligible, incomplete, or late entries or (ii) any act, failure to act, or delay regarding the transmitting or processing of entries. Organizers reserve the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend all or any portion of this contest without notice if factors beyond control, including technical difficulties, disrupt or corrupt the fair or secure administration or operation of the contest. Void where prohibited. Organizers are entitled to interpret these rules as needed and decisions are final. Organizers reserve the right to disqualify any entrant they have reason to believe is not the original work of entrant, or does not otherwise meet the contest rules. If a winner is disqualified or determined to be ineligible, an alternate winner will be selected using the same judging process/criteria described above. Alternate winners are subject to all requirements set forth in these Official Rules.

By participating in the contest, you agree to release and hold harmless all organizers, employees, officers, affiliates, agents, and advertising and promotional agencies from any and all damages, injuries, claims, causes of actions, or losses of any kind resulting from your participation in this contest, including infringement of intellectual property rights. Sponsors and their employees, officers, affiliates, agents, and advertising and promotional agencies assume no responsibility or liability for any damages, injuries, claims, causes of actions, or losses of any kind arising in whole or in part from this contest.

Size matters when it comes to digital photos
Tips for entering Lanier’s 50th Anniversary photo contest
By Pamela A. Keene

The beauty of digital cameras lies in their simplicity. Most people use “point-and-shoot” digitals and figure out the basics through trial and error. But to get the best – and most versatile photos – it’s important to read the owners’ manual and experiment.

“Every camera is different, but one thing is constant,” said R. Todd Fleeman, professional photographer and photography instructor at North Metro Technical College. “To get the most from your camera, read the manual and practice. It’s also important to understand that you should shoot your photos at the highest resolution possible. I recommend adjusting your settings to capture the most information on the memory card.”

Resolution – the number of dots per inch – can determine the sharpness and quality of the final prints. Most cameras, even the most simple point-and-shoot viewfinder models, allow adjustments.

“Shooting an image in a higher resolution will indeed take up more room on your memory card, but memory cards have come way down in price over the past 18 months,” Fleeman said. “It’s better to have extra cards and shoot larger images than to shoot at a lower resolution and risk not being able to able to make large prints later.”

Think of the memory card as the film in cameras of the past century.

Photographers have always been taught that film is the least expensive part of taking a photo. If an image isn’t properly captured, you may not be able to go back and reshoot it.

“I always take more memory cards than I think I’ll use,” he said. “I shoot several views of the same shot, maybe adjust where I shoot for the best lighting and then come back and delete the photos that aren’t the best.

Having extra memory cards is like bringing along extra rolls of film. It’s better to overshoot than to miss an opportunity.”

Lakeside on Lanier Photo Contest

Images submitted to the Lakeside on Lanier Photo Contest for the 50th Anniversary should be at least 300 dpi – dots per inch. And the images should be printable to at least a 5 by 7 format without sacrificing sharpness and clarity.

Look at your owners’ manual to see how to adjust the size/resolution of the photos you shoot, then adjust accordingly.